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Object Timeline

2003

  • Work on this object began.

2005

2006

  • We acquired this object.

2007

2014

2024

  • You found it!

Textile, Quarry Spider

This is a Textile. It was designed by Sheila Hicks. It is dated 2003 and we acquired it in 2006. Its medium is cotton, handmade japanese rice paper and its technique is woven and embroidered. It is a part of the Textiles department.

Sheila Hicks’ Quarry Spider (2003) is an artistic achievement in color, structure and technique. The small weaving, measuring only 9 ¼” x 5 7/8”, is one of almost 1,000 works included in her series Miniatures ­– an enduring project that began over 50 years ago. Each was created on a small loom constructed from painter’s stretcher bars, which made a practical and portable companion throughout her travels in India, Mexico, France, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

In Quarry Spider, she thoughtfully inserts soft white cotton hand-made Japanese rice paper between green warp threads, and delicately weaves sinuous whispers of blue, yellow, green and orange. The piece has four complete selvages (finished ends of fabric), ensuring that it will not unravel. As in her other miniature work, Hicks endeavors to explore the inherent characteristics of particular materials and the rich dimensionality of color and form.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Quarry Spider.

It is credited Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund.

Its dimensions are

Warp x Weft: 23.5 x 15 cm (9 1/4 x 5 7/8 in.)

Cite this object as

Textile, Quarry Spider; Designed by Sheila Hicks (American, b. 1934); France; cotton, handmade japanese rice paper; Warp x Weft: 23.5 x 15 cm (9 1/4 x 5 7/8 in.); Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund; 2006-13-7

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Looking Forward/ Looking Back: Recent Acquisitions in 20th- and 21st-Century Design.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18705349/ |title=Textile, Quarry Spider |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=19 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>